Has Texas established itself among CFB's elite? Joel Klatt's Week 2 takeaways
How about that for a Saturday? I love college football.
It looked like we were going to have a dull slate of games after Texas' rout of Michigan — at least compared to the opening weekend — but it turned out to be an incredible day. A 28-point favorite, No. 5 Notre Dame, was upset by Northern Illinois. No. 7 Oregon withstood a tough battle from Boise State at home. No. 4 Alabama was only leading by a point late in its eventual win over USF. No. 8 Penn State trailed at halftime before beating Bowling Green. No. 15 Oklahoma narrowly defeated Houston. No. 21 Iowa blew a 13-point lead at halftime against Iowa State in a rivalry game. Finally, No. 25 Clemson bounced back in a major way, as the Tigers' offense scored 56 first-half points in a win over Appalachian State.
College football is so unpredictable. We're reminded of so many different truths, including the fact that weeks like this happen every year. Every year, we (mostly I) think about teams in such a definitive way at the start of the season and after Week 1, we go back and say, "I was definitely right or wrong" about certain teams.
Right after we try to make definitive conclusions again, Week 2 always brings us something different. It happens every year. Just last year, Miami hammered a ranked Texas A&M team in Week 2, and we thought the Hurricanes were going to be for real. Oregon needed a last-second field goal against Texas Tech. Utah needed a last-minute touchdown in a comeback win over Baylor, who went 3-9. In 2022, top-10 ranked Texas A&M and Notre Dame each lost at home to non-power conference schools in Week 2.
We shouldn't be surprised by all this happening in Week 2. Yet, we forget that this sport is made up of players aged 18-22. They're still kids, and